ARLINGTON, Texas — All alone in first place in the NFC East, that’s where the Giants are after Monday night’s stunning display of resiliency, artistry and plain old brute force combined to overwhelm, embarrass and for all practical purposes end the Cowboys’ season.

In a frenetic turnaround, the Giants found themselves down 10-0 less than six minutes into the game and trailed 20-7 early in the second quarter. With 91,375 witnesses at Cowboys Stadium, the Giants scored the next 31 points and by the second half Eli Manning and Co. were absolutely and completely toying with a team many expected to not only finish atop the division but also represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

Instead, the Giants (5-2) by virtue of their resounding 41-35 victory, are now the top dogs, winners of four straight as they head into their bye week leading the Redskins (4-3) and Eagles (4-3) and far, far ahead of the dysfunctional Cowboys (1-5).

This turned into a brutal beating. The Giants added injury to insult, flattening Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo to the turf and putting him out for months. Romo was forced out with what X-rays revealed was a fractured left clavicle with 12:07 left in the second quarter after getting leveled by blitzing Michael Boley.

The Cowboys led 10-7 at the time, went ahead 13-7 on a David Buehler field goal and 20-7 on rookie Dez Bryant’s 93-yard return of a booming 69-yard Mat Dodge punt.

Romo became the fifth quarterback the Giants have knocked out of a game, joining Matt Moore of the Panthers, Jay Cutler and Todd Collins of the Bears, and Shaun Hill of the Lions as casualties of the Giants defensive frenzy.

With Romo, the Cowboys were 1-4 and finding ways to lose. They figure to be without him quite a while, putting the offense in the hands of veteran Jon Kitna. No team since 1990 has gone 1-5 and made the playoffs. You think Kitna is going to be the first?

In their worst nightmares the Giants and Manning couldn’t have imagined a more dreadful start. Their first two possessions totaled six plays and both ended with sailing Manning passes deflecting off the hands of leaping receivers for interceptions. It was a 10-0 Cowboys lead after gift-wrapping all the points.

At that point Manning was 0 for 4 with two interceptions and the Giants were teetering on the edge of getting blown out. Manning came back with a strong drive, completing six passes, the last one a 7-yard strike to Nicks, who maneuvered in front of Sensabaugh in the end zone to cut the deficit to 10-7.

The comeback really got cooking as Manning began percolating. He finished up an 80-play drive with a bullet to Hakeem Nicks, who simply stepped in front of Orlando Scandrick in the end zone to make it 20-14.

Kitna was sacked by Deon Grant for a three-and-out and a 22-yard run by Ahmad Bradshaw helped set up Manning’s 14-yard touchdown lob to Steve Smith, who also abused Scandrick. The Giants had their first lead, 21-20, with 1:15 remaining in the first half but didn’t settle for that.

Kitna actually completed a pass but usually-reliable Jason Witten was hit by Barry Cofield, who forced a fumble that Deon Grant recovered on the Dallas 44. That eventually led to a 53-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes and the Giants soared in at the half ahead 24-20. The second half was an utter mismatch. Kitna went three-and-out and Manning found a new target, Ramses Barden, for 22 yards as the Giants obviously had no regard for the Dallas secondary. That led to Manning’s third touchdown pass, this one helped along by a Kevin Boss block on Terence Newman that freed Mario Manningham to shake and bake for 25 yards as he backpedaled into the end zone to make it 31-20.

Another three-and-out from Kitna led to massive boos from the crowd, which couldn’t even get very excited when owner Nolan Ryan of the World Series bound Rangers was shown on the enormous video board.

Brandon Jacobs sprined in for a 30-yard touchdown for a 38-20 Giants lead.